Cleaner heads for vacuum cleaners typically comprise a brush bar located within a housing. A suction opening is provided in a lower surface of the housing, which is commonly known as a sole plate, through which dirt bearing air is drawn into the cleaner head.
A problem associated with conventional cleaner heads is that the close proximity required between the sole plate and the surface being cleaned in order to maintain pick-up performance means that large debris tends to be pushed across the surface being cleaned by the cleaner head rather than being drawn through the suction opening into the cleaner head.